A Story of Love
by SSKFelton
Summary: Prologue: Claire, five years old, is deeply attached to Quil since their souls belong together. Now she's older and feeling things. Through all the drama that suddenly enters with her sister and imprinting, will they have a chance to figure things out?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: A Story of Love**

**Ship: Quil Jr./Claire**

**Author: SS Felton.**

**Prologue: A Different Kind of Love**

Quil sat Indian style on the sand of First Beach, surrounded by many families and screaming children but on this sunny day, those screaming people kept clear of his spot. Claire sat in front of him, her feet folded neatly beneath her and her knees cuddled up in the eve his ankles made. Between them, Quil held open a pop-up book of The Little Mermaid, and finished telling the classic fairytale story.

"But Quil, why didn't the Princess go up to the Prince and tell him she loved him?" Clair asked, her view of the world simple. She looked up at him so trustingly that Quil laughed; to her, he held all the answers and he loved that.

"Because the Princess was shy, and she saw how happy the Prince was and she didn't want to ruin it for him."

"But if she loved him," Claire insisted.

"Yes, but no one taught her to tell someone when you love them. That's important." She nodded, though she was still clearly confused. He continued telling the story from his head while turning the picture-book. "So Ariel watched the Prince from afar even though it hurt her never to speak to him. See, she loved him so she was going to put his life above hers. Now remember, Claire, the Wicked Witch told Ariel that she had to kill the Prince or lose her legs forever and be confined to the sea –"

"What's confined?"

"That's when you have to stay in a certain place forever. Like how your sister gets sent to her room for an hour when she does something bad. We say she's 'confined' to her room for an hour."

Claire pondered that for a moment, her tiny face screwed up cutely and her eyes fixed on his face. Quil grinned at her, patiently waiting, as well as thinking that Claire could set someone's clothes on fire and he'd think it was cute. He was just so attached to her.

"Continue," she ordered with a sharp nod.

"So Princess Ariel decided to let the Prince go and live happily. She blew him a kiss goodbye and jumped back into the ocean where she turned back into a mermaid with a pretty fish tail. She swam into the large ocean and towards her Daddy's kingdom. She was sad that she had to let the Prince go, but she was also happy because he was alive and happy. The End."

"But they didn't kiss!" Claire exclaimed.

"I know Claire! I'll have to have a word with the writer of the story."

"They were supposed to be together in the end!"

"But they weren't!" Quil feigned sufficient horror. "Now I'm wondering what that writer was thinking!"

Claire stood up, almost standing on his feet – she was that comfortable with him – and gave him a look that he easily recognized. "Quil, fix it!" his little princess ordered.

Since Quil's sole purpose on this earth was to please Claire and fight vampires while doing it, he obeyed the command. Quick as a flash, he grabbed Claire round the waist and pulled her to stand on his lap so he could tickle her and kiss her cheeks at the same time. She squealed, giggling hard and Quil laughed, delighted at her reaction to him. He just loved Claire so much! Not in a perverted way, but not in an entirely brotherly way either. He doubted that any brother would want to spend every minute of every hour with his baby sister. No, it was different for Quil; it was as if his soul sensed hers close by and just had to maintain a strong connection. He just enjoyed being with her, five-years-old and all.

But he was going to have to let her go just like Ariel had let her Prince go.

"I love you Quil!" she mumbled when he was done tickling her and was hugging her close. He rocked her slowly for about an hour, listening as she mumbled random things she thought might interest him, until she fell asleep. The poor baby had a hard time sleeping lately and he was the only one who could fix it.

With reluctance, he stood, packed up their belongings with one hand, and headed for Emily's. When he got there, Paul, Jared and Embry were lounging on the sofa, the thing straining to hold three large shape shifters.

"How's the little troublemaker?" Embry smiled fondly at Claire when Quil walked in the door.

"She didn't sleep last night," he said as he took up an armchair. "Sarah brought her over this morning saying she didn't stop crying. So I read her a story and _viola_ – she's sleeping. Isn't she an angel?"

Paul and Jared both snorted while Embry simply shook his head as if he, Quil, was clinically insane and there was nothing anyone could do but live with it. He grinned back at them, happily arranging Claire on his lap so she'd be more comfortable. He knew from years of experience that if he put her down somewhere she'd scream loud enough to wake the dead.

"Do you need anything to eat?" Jared asked, getting up to go into the kitchen.

"Bring me back a beer and something to eat would you?" The guys may rib him about adoring a precocious child, but they saw into his head all the time, consequently adoring her too. Besides, Paul and Jared knew how consuming imprinting was and Embry was just open to anything.

"You know you're spoiling her," Paul eyed him disapprovingly.

Embry snorted. "Man, he finished the job a week after he met her. She's already rotten."

Paul shook his head, "You can't keep codling her. It's going to make it harder for her to live without you."

"Can we not talk about that!" Quil snapped, irritated. The topic was a touchy one with him and just as Claire had been restless for the past week, he was irritated as well. The slightest things could set him off. "I don't tell you how to handle your imprint."

"Well my imprint isn't five years old!" Paul said heatedly.

"Cut it out!" Embry shouted as Quil opened his mouth to comment.

Jared came back into the room, shoving a muffin into Quil's mouth, "Eat this and shut up will you." A beer was passed to Quil and then he turned to Paul and Embry. "What do you think you're doing picking fights with him and shouting in Claire's company. The child's sleeping – don't you know to be quiet."

All three of them choked - when Claire was in Quil's arms the rest of the world didn't exist for her – but said nothing in return. Jared's twin girls had turned two this year, and ever since they were born, he thought he was an expert on children. Paul also had a son who was going to turn one in a few months so he couldn't say anything because Jared was right.

And they were also lucky that Emily was out with her son, two year old Denali, because that boy could wake up if there was even the twitch of a floorboard in the house. Sam always turned murderous if they disturbed his son when the little guy was asleep. Who knew the alpha was such a Daddy bear.

Speaking of Daddies… "Don't you have a son at your house or something? What are you doing over here?" he questioned Paul peevishly and unfairly.

"Rachel found a picture of a girl I once er…" he glanced at Claire and censored his words even though she was sleeping, "… played with."

"'Played'?" Embry laughed.

"Nice choice of words," Jared snickered. Paul glared at him, a little flushed.

"What's the story?" Quil nosed. "How come we never read it in your mind?"

"Because it was before the pack. I was sixteen," he groaned. "I can't believe Rachel would hold it over me."

It was as if a light bulb went off in the room. Both Quil and Embry chorused, "So that's why you have to sleep on the couch!"

"Yep," Paul grouched. "I don't get the point! It was a fling on my sixteenth birthday and lasted for two weeks. I'd even forgotten about it."

"Then what were you doing with a picture five years down the road?" Jared asked and got a glare in return. "So who was she? How come you never told me?"

"Buddy, that was in January when you were visiting some cousin on the other side of America. By the time you came back I'd forgotten all about her. She was down here visiting a friend – I think it was Salmon Frand from back in school. You remember Salmon? She graduated a year ahead of us. That's how I met Dixie – who was eighteen by the way," he gloated.

"You had an affair with an older woman and you never told me!" Jared practically shouted at Paul. Paul shrugged, an infuriating smile spread over his face. Jared reached out and smacked his head, hard.

"And that's why Rach has you on the sofa," Embry pointed out. "If you ask me, she should have put you out of the house."

"You're one to talk," Quil chuckled as he revealed… "What about that girl I caught you with when we were seventeen? The twenty year old with the fiancé in L.A.?"

"I'm not imprinted," Embry shamelessly grinned.

"So anyway, what are you going to do about Claire?" Jared asked, his gaze fondly sweeping over her sweet, relaxed little face.

"I don't know. Sarah said I could visit them in Atlanta as often as I like. But I don't know. I'm thinking I may have to move out there with Claire."

His words were greeted by a flood of protests that sounded like…

"But you'll have to leave the pack –" Embry.

"You're insane! Are you crazy or are you crazy – " Paul.

"I'm not sure that's an option – " Jared

To shut them up before they woke Claire with all the racket, he hastily explained, "I've talked it over with Sam, so yes, that's an option. Paul. Jared, you know the connection. I think you guys think that because she's so small it's not as strong as yours are with your wives, but you're wrong – ours is just different. I can't stay away from her. The thought of it pains me."

"But the pack – "

"I haven't thought things through yet but I know I won't stop phasing until Claire is at least eighteen. I'll return here often. And if you guys ever need any help you can just ask."

The three shape-shifters he was sharing Sam's living room with were staring at him with jaws wide open. Embry's expression was the worst. He looked as if Quil had just stabbed him in the back and when his eyes slid to Claire, Quil saw the heavy resentment in them.

"Don't look at her like that!" he snapped, holding the little girl's face in his hand as if blocking her from Embry's dark eyes. "It's not her fault!"

"Not her fault," Embry muttered too low for the human ear to hear. "Nothing is ever her fault. I hate this bloody thing called imprinting!"

"Quil. That's a hard decision," Jared started, but he was interrupted by Paul.

"Someone should get that stick out of Harvey Young's arse! Or push it up further if that'll get him to his senses. The damn man would rather see his daughter sick with grief than see her happy."

"I ran with Sam last night and he said the whole reason behind this is that the man's jealous that his daughter needs Quil more than she needs him. He hates you Quil. And sorry to say, but I can relate. My girls are my life and I don't think I could graciously tolerate it if someone imprinted on one of them. They're only two years old – my babies. Imprinting means that they won't be mine anymore." Jared's eyes held a small bit of sadness at the scenario and Quil tried not to think that this was exactly what he had done to Harvey Young's two year old daughter.

"That's bullshit!" Paul exclaimed. "Just because Quil imprinted on her doesn't mean that Harvey is not her father. She loves her father – sometimes she talks about him all the time."

Yeah, Quil acknowledged in silence, she just talked about her best friend more.

*_*_*_*

In the morning, Quil stood in Emily's driveway and buckled Claire into her seat. Harvey watched him coldly from the driver's seat while Sarah seemed anxious to get going. Claire was moving away with her family because Sarah got a big job at a prestigious Atlanta firm and Harvey had immediately applied for some job in a production company. The pair looked like they couldn't get away from La Push fast enough. Quil tried not to be resentful but he felt loads of that emotion; especially as he knew they only let him spend so much time with Claire under suffrage of Emily. Harvey Young could deny his little sister nothing, but not even for her would he stay.

"Hurry up, Quil," the man glared at him. "Let him go Claire, it's getting late."

Claire did not let up her grip on his neck, squeezing tighter if possible. Quil, nineteen years old and a big bad shape-shifting wolf, tried hard not to cry but a few tears fell into Claire's hair anyway. Who knew letting go was so hard.

"I don't want to go!" she said to him, looking at him with that familiar expression. The one that exclaimed 'Fix it Quil!'

"I'm sorry, Princess. Your parents say you have to go and so you have to go."

"But I don't want to!" she glanced at her father who was glaring at him then turned back to Quil. "You never let me do anything I don't want to."

Yes, he'd shamelessly spoiled her but… "Claire baby, sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to."

Quietly, she contemplated him and as always, he patiently awaited her verdict. Finally, in a tiny quivering voice she asked, "But you'll visit me? Often?"

"I'll try Claire baby."

"Alright." She leaned up, he leaned down to he received a nice wet smack on his cheek. "I love you Quil. I'll come back, I promise."

For some reason, that sounded like a threat and Quil wondered at the fear that raced up his spine, dismissing it almost as soon as he felt it. "Be a good girl for me now, just like last night." he told her, kissing her cheek.

She grinned up at him, "Last night I slept the whole night!" she boasted proudly. Quil nodded, still bewildered at that. She had also forgone the tantrums and tears this morning, even though this was the morning she was leaving La Push for the airport.

"Yes you did. So you continue to be a good girl okay." Claire nodded, her hair flying all over the place. When Sarah told him to hurry up in a harsh sort of voice, Claire pulled him down again and grinning, she kissed him again. "Bye, Bye Quil."

He hugged tightly one last time, trying not to think about how her goodbye sounded like she was simply going away for a few hours and would see him again soon. "Bye, baby," he said into her hair, smelling the familiar baby scent that hadn't gone from her despite her age. "You have the phone I gave you right? Don't be afraid to call anytime you feel like it."

She nodded, smiling her little sunshine grin, and he did the hardest thing he ever had to do in a while. He let her go, shut the car door, and step back. He even managed to keep his face stonily straight as the car drove away. Then he phased and followed it for two miles outside of Forks.

*_*_*_*

Sarah Young held tightly to her daughter's hand, standing beside her husband as he took care of the tickets. While she kept her hand firmly on Gracie, her eyes were fixed on five year old Claire who stubbornly refused to let anyone hold her hand. She stood close to her sister, looking around her curiously and was in no danger, but Sarah had to admit that a small part of her wanted to return Claire to Quil. If he were here with her she would have allowed anyone to hold her hand, and she would also have been happy.

Right now, Sarah marveled at the almost grown up concentration Claire was displaying as she looked away from them and into the crowded airport. She was angry and sad, her mother knew, but she also knew that Harvey was right; whatever Claire was feeling would pass with time.

"Come on, Sarah," Harvey said, looking around for Claire and grabbing her even when she scowled at him and tried to pull away. "We're late." He pulled Claire along and she followed with Gracie, who was hissing at Claire to stop it and behave.

"I don't want to behave! I want to stay with Quil!"

Harvey's face darkened. He rarely got angry but when he did, it was explosive, and Claire had just gotten on his last nerve; she'd been steadily eating away at it since she met Quil Ateara. "You're not staying with Quil, you're coming with me!" he shouted at her. Everyone in the immediate vicinity looked at them but Harvey ignored it.

"Harvey, don't shout at her," Sarah admonished.

He shot her a glance before returning his attention to their young daughter. "Claire honey, you have to stay with Daddy and Mommy. Don't you love us?" he asked soothingly, a pleading look on his face.

"Of course I love you Daddy," Sarah could hear the sadness in her voice. "But I love Quil too."

"That's what I'm afraid of!"

_Calling all passengers to Flight 1345. Calling all passengers to Flight 1345._

"Come on, Claire, we have to go."

"I don't want to go," Claire whispered, looking up at her mother. Sarah was struck again by the intelligence in Claire's eyes. Her progress was faster than children her age and she attributed it to the child spending so much time with adults at Emily's house. Still, it was almost unnatural, the sheer intelligence and cleverness Claire had developed since she started spending so much time at La Push. Not for the first time, her motherly instinct was urging her to return Claire to the reservation. And not for the first time, she ignored it just like Harvey ignored Claire's protests and pulled her along to their plane.

With clenched jaws, he buckled Claire into her seat first while Sarah buckled Gracie. She didn't miss the way Claire studied the intricacies of the seatbelt, but thought nothing of it. When she and Harvey were buckled in, the pilot announced that there would be a fifteen minute delay, but both parents hardly heard as they were so tired from dealing with both Claire and Gracie on this hectic day. Within five minutes, they were asleep.

*_*_*_*

Claire was only five years old, but she had a brilliant brain. She watched her parents fall asleep and knew that what she was about to do was very wrong. She still wanted to do it though.

She looked over to her sister who seemed angry at her for causing all this trouble. "I'm sorry Gracie."

"You cause Mommy and Daddy a lot of trouble."

"I know."

Gracie kept looking at her causing her to start to twitch in her seat. "Why do you like Quil so much?"

Claire shrugged, answering truthfully, "I don't know. I just do."

"The girls at school says it's weird that he spends so much time with you."

Claire knew that; her friends and her sister's friends told her the same thing. "Quil says not to bother with them, that no one in the world has a great best friend like me."

Gracie sniffed at her, not answering. Claire didn't bother with her big sister. Instead, she worked at her seatbelt. When she finally got it loose, she jumped down.

"Where are you going? Mommy and Daddy will be mad."

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Do you know where it is? I don't."

"I'll ask a pretty lady in the blue outfit. Bye Gracie."

Gracie nodded. "Be back soon."

Claire ran back the way she came when she came on the plane and in the rush of people coming into the plane in the last five minutes allowed her to slip out unnoticed. By the time she was seen by a nice lady in a blue suit, she was lost.

"Hey, little girl, you're very pretty. What's your name? Where's your Mommy and Daddy?"

Her parents told her never to talk to strangers so she stayed quiet. She wished Quil would come to pick her up. The woman asked for her name again but still she remained quiet.

"Sweetheart, are you supposed to be on the plane?"

She didn't answer.

"If you don't tell me, I won't be able to find your Mommy for you," the lady said in a nice voice. Claire pulled away from her, looking around and wondering which way she had come from when Daddy pulled her from the crowd into the plane.

Beside her, the woman talked into a boxlike thing. She said, "Security, I have an abandoned child…"

She wanted Quil. That's why she ran off the plane. She wanted Quil and she thought that if she came off the plane, he'd be waiting for her. She wanted to cry, because she was lost, had no parents and no Quil. She lost her Mommy and Daddy!

As tears started to run down her face and she started to cry, the woman took her hand, saying, "Don't cry, darling. We'll find your Mommy for you." When she took Claire's hand this time, Claire let her lead her back to the crowd of people in the big open space.

That took a while, and on the walk there, Claire suddenly remembered the phone Quil had given her before she left. He told her that it had three numbers – his, Uncle Sam and the ambulance people with the big red sirens. She stopped the lady, dug her phone out of her pocked, and handed the bright pink thing to the lady.

"Quil," she said shyly when the lady looked down at her in surprise.

"You want me to call someone named Quil?" the lady asked, pressing buttons in the phone. Claire nodded eagerly. "Alright," she smiled and knelt to Claire's height. "I'll call him, but I have to get you to somewhere safe first, alright?"

Claire frowned. Safe was with Quil. And her parents told her never to go alone somewhere with a stranger. Looking around at the crowd, she decided she wanted to stay here so she shook her head and said again, "Quill."

"I have to get you safe first," the woman said again and Claire started to cry again. She wanted Quil!

"Claire!" someone shouted. Claire turned eagerly; she knew that voice. It was not Quil, but she saw her friend Renesmee's Uncle Emmett running up to her. Crying hard, she turned and held out her arms for him to pick her up. She liked Uncle Emmet. He was nice and he gave Claire snacks and toys and books whenever he brought Nessie to Aunt Emily's house to play with her.

"I want Quil," she sobbed at him, clutching his big neck so she wouldn't fall.

"Honey-bear, where are your parents?"

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. She didn't know where the plane was now.

"I see." Uncle Emmet was looking at her seriously now. Then he turned to the lady and said, "M'am, thank you, I'll take it from here."

"Sir, I'm afraid that despite your familiarity with the child, I can't let you leave yet." She said to him. At that point, Claire stopped listening because she knew she was safe with Uncle Emmet and that he'd make sure she saw Quil soon.

The lady took them to a white room with more people in it and Uncle Emmet had to answer questions and talk to Uncle Sam on a phone they gave him before he was allowed to take her home. The trip that had seemed long with Mommy and Daddy was really shorter with Uncle Emmet. Claire cried the whole way home because she missed her mum and dad and she wanted to see Quil so bad it hurt.

When they were finally at the Cullen's house, she saw her Uncle Sam and Aunt Emily, Quil, Nessie, and Quil's friend, Jacob, waiting for them. They all looked serious but Claire didn't care because finally, Quil was opening the door and he was hugging her again. Claire clung to him, laughing and crying at the same time. She didn't understand what he was saying – something about plenty trouble, a beating, frightened, Alice, danger, and that he was going to lock her up in a tower for the rest of her life. Claire didn't care; she just cried.

Later, she got a scolding from her Aunt and Uncle, and one over the phone from her parents. Then she was sent up to bed where she got another scolding from Quil who told her that because she had been a bad girl there were no bedtime stories for the rest of the week.

When her parents came the next day, she hugged them a lot because she missed them, but they were really angry at her. Gracie had warned her that they would be mad. Her dad and mum had a long talk with Uncle Sam, Aunt Emily and Quil, and they asked over and over again if she was sure she wanted to stay here. She answered every time that yes, she wanted to.

Her Mommy hugged her first and she was crying really, really hard. "Mommy don't cry, I love you," Claire said. I love you's always made Claire feel better and it must have worked for her Mommy because she stopped crying too.

Then it was Daddy's turn. Daddy didn't cry, but she thought he wanted to. "I'm going to miss you, Claire," he told her as he hugged her. "This is the hardest thing that I've ever done but I'm going to do it for you sweetheart. I'm letting you go because I love you."

"I love you too Daddy," Claire frowned at him. "But why are you letting me go? What does that mean? I'll still be your favorite little girl right?"

She didn't have to worry because Daddy laughed, hugged her again and told her, "Yes, you and Gracie will always be my favorite little girls." Claire giggled and hugged him back.

Then Uncle Sam was lifting her up into his arms and from that nice high perch, she watched Mommy and Daddy drive away. She thought they were crying again, but then Mommy turned around and smiled at her.

*_*_*_*

Quil woke from his stiff position on the chair in Claire's room, his eyes honing in on the smart five year old girl he'd imprinted on. This chair had been his bed for the past six nights after the fiasco at the airport. Claire absolutely refused to let him out of her sight for longer than five minutes and it made patrol and going to the bathroom hard. But like always, he didn't have a complaint.

It was early in the morning but he heard Sam and Emily downstairs anyway. He didn't move yet because he knew that if he did, he had only about ten minutes privacy before Claire woke up and came looking for him. Imprinting was _strange_.

When he couldn't bear nature's call any longer, he hurried away and washed up for the day. He was in the kitchen with Sam and Emily, having already finished breakfast when she came downstairs. She said 'good morning' to everyone while she made her way over to Quil. Without a thought, he pulled her onto his lap and grabbed the empty bowl and cereal box he had ready. He half filled it for her, added the milk and tucked in the spoon, then sat while she ate. He did all this without breaking his conversation with Sam, and he had a niggling premonition that he was going to be doing this sort of thing for the rest of his life.

With his arm securely around her while she sat on his lap and ate her breakfast – as she had done every morning she'd spent at Emily's – Quil thought about how thankful he was that Harvey and Sarah decided to let her live with Sam and Emily. They couldn't come back to the reservation because they had both signed watertight contracts, but they trusted Sam and his 'friends' to take care of their daughter.

Quil swore to them, and himself, that he would never violate that trust. He'd keep her safe if it was the last thing he ever did. And he'd spoil her too. He loved to spoil her. He knew it was wrong of him to feel so happy and – and _triumphant_ – when two parents had to make the difficult decision of giving up their child, but he couldn't help it. He was just grateful and so happy that he wouldn't have to live apart from Claire. He could see his Princess every day.

"Quil, I want juice," she said with that familiar, trusting expression. He gave her a wry grin as Emily got up to get the juice; he'd have to play butler everyday too, but Claire made up for it with all her love and trust in him.

^_^

**A/N: This can stand alone as a one shot but I do have plans to add more to it. It remains to be seen whether I'll do that or not. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and please, remember to review. **


	2. Family Breakfast

**A Story of Love**

**Chapter 1 – Family Breakfast**

12 Years Later

In the past twelve years since she'd been living in this house, the Uley's were some kind of headquarters for all the big, tall overheated guys in La Push. It was a Monday morning three weeks into the school term and Claire Young did not want to get out of bed, even though she heard a lot of commotion downstairs. In a climate such as the one this place boasted, snuggled in bed was the best place to be in her opinion.

But tell that to the man persistently knocking on her door, saying that she'd be late for school.

"Go away, Quil!" she groaned softly, knowing that he'd hear her no matter how quiet she was. It made things handy since she never had to strain her voice. "Let me stay home today, please?"

The door opened and Quil Ataera, the man who'd practically raised her (despite the fact that she lived at Uncle Sam's and Aunt Emily's house) strolled in. He was a big man, just passing the 6 feet 5" mark, and like the rest of Uncle Sam's friends, he had russet coloured smooth skin, bulging, sharply defined muscles, and short dark hair. That alone made him divine, but combined with his own individual characteristics, he was more than enough to make Claire melt.

She peaked at his grinning face from under the covers, drinking him in for a short minute. Recently she'd begun to see her best friend in a different light; she was beginning to see him as a man rather than an asexual being who was always there for her every need and want. She was beginning to see what the girls at school talked about when they spoke of a 'hot' guy – something that was abnormal for her. In fact she'd confided in Quil for years that she thought there was something wrong with her because no boy ever made her feel the way those girls said he was supposed to make her feel.

And here she was, feeling those intense, mysterious things for a man she'd known her whole life. Quickly, she turned over before he saw her blush.

"Claire! Get ready for school and get downstairs!" Uncle Sam's voice floated through the open door from somewhere in the house. Claire groaned – stupid Uncle Sam; didn't he know when a girl was going through a crisis on a cold day that it was preferable she stay in a warm bed.

"Don't groan at me, young lady. Get up for school."

She didn't have to respond to her uncle because Quil ripped away the covers from her and stood, staring as she faced the cold air. At times like these, when that weird, unexplainable gleam surfaced in his eyes and he looked down at her body the way she looked at his when he wasn't watching, Claire almost thought he was beginning to feel the same way about her.

"What are you wearing?" he growled, a weird note in his voice.

Beginning to shiver, she just glared at him. "I'm in bed. I'm allowed to wear whatever I want." So she was in a short shorts and her bra; who cared? "Besides, it's just you – so who cares? Now give me back my blankets! I'm freezing here. Not all of us have inbuilt heaters you know."

Quil ignored the censure and gripped her by the waist to lift her out of the bed and set her on her feet. It was nothing unusual; he'd been lifting her like that for as long as she could remember. "Put on some clothes and get downstairs," he hardly looked at her as he threw her some pants and a large tee shirt from her dresser. "Your breakfast is going to get cold," he said as he ran out of the room so fast, it could only be called an escape.

"Well I didn't know I grew a tail and two horns in the middle of the night," she muttered, bewildered, then she began washing and getting ready for school, ignoring the muffled yelling delivered by both her cousins.

Downstairs, the place was teeming with people but Claire didn't even stop to think why Uncle Jared and Uncle Paul were over here when she was sure their wives had cooked them breakfast. She did, however, wonder why Paul was here and his seventeen year old son, Cain, wasn't. He was supposed to drive her to school.

"Sit," Quil nodded at the empty space beside him on the table. A glass of milk and pancakes with syrup were already laid out for her so all she had to do was eat it. As she sat, Embry came out of one of the spare rooms in the house, scratching his armpit. He'd crashed there after patrol last night, she was sure. That was why those spare rooms existed.

"Ew!" Claire had to exclaim as Embry scratched under his arm and yawned, even though she'd seen this sight about a million times before. He went to the counter to grab his food before joining them on the table.

"What?" Embry asked stupidly.

Claire just shook her head at him and turned to Quil. "Where's Aunt Emily?"

"She's at my house," Jared answered. "Airini was acting up this morning and I had to leave before I killed someone." As he said that he turned to glare at Paul as if he'd like nothing better than to kill him.

"Don't look at me like that," Paul defended. "I'm not the one who imprinted on your daughter."

"Will you two stop it?" Quil stopped inhaling food long enough to demand. "Jared, it's been two years – get over it. Look at Claire – she was a baby imprint and she turned out just fine."

Jared looked Clair over then bluntly informed Quil, "She's spoiled rotten."

Claire, who took no offense, grinned at them all, "But everyone loves me more!"

"See what I mean?" he told Quil, who just reached over, hooked his arm over the back of her chair and continued on with the food.

"Who could ask for more?" she grinned cheekily at him. "Such devotion is a godsend, you know."

"I can't take the constant crying!" Jared half-shouted, frustrated. "If she's not with Cain she asks for him all the time and she cries and cries and cries… I've got to say, Quil, I have a new respect for Claire's parents – it definitely was not easy for them."

"Look at it this way," Paul said to his best friend with a hopeful grimace. "Claire's parents had the brat" ("Hey!" Claire objected) "dropped on them with surprise. You knew before Airini was born that Cain was going to imprint of her."

"I thought it was going to get easier with time," Jared looked forlorn. "But it's been two years and it just gets worse!"

"Didn't I say I hate imprinting," Embry mumbled over his food. "Now you see what I mean."

"I'm feeling very discriminated against," Claire, the only imprint in the room, frowned at the three grown males. Of course Quil was exempt from any reproach.

Any reply was halted when Uncle Sam thundered down the stairs ushering his two children, fifteen year old Denali and twelve year old Ilima, ahead of him. "Now sit down and shut up both of you!" Denali opened his mouth but Uncle Sam threatened, "Not another word. I have had enough. Eat."

Nobody needed any explanation of what happened upstairs; Denali and Ilima had been fighting since they were born but the weird thing about it was that they got along just fine when Aunt Emily was around, but when she wasn't, war was somehow declared. They unashamedly took advantage of Sam since he was a notorious softy where his children, Claire included, were concerned. But even Uncle Sam had his breaking point.

Sam grabbed his pancakes and harshly sat at the table, glaring at both teenagers who were sullenly eating the food he had placed in front of them. Helpfully, Claire grabbed the syrup and spread it generously over his food, just the way he liked it. "Here, Uncle Sam. The kids giving you problems this morning?" she turned to give them warning, big sister looks. The two squirmed, but glared at each other; clearly the fight would resume at school.

When she looked away from her cousins, she caught Quill shaking his head at her, an indulgent smile playing about his lips. "What?"

"You amaze me sometimes." Uncle Sam growled quietly next to her but everyone ignored it. "You'll cook, and even help someone with their food, but you wait for me get your food for you." So? She shrugged, feigning a blank, what-are-you-talking-about look. Leaning closer to her, so close that she could smell the musky, woodsy, manly scent of his chest, he reached across Uncle Sam's plate for the cartoon of milk and refilled her empty glass. "This is what I'm talking about," he whispered into her ear.

Claire melted. That was the only way to describe what she was feeling. Suddenly, a breakfast tradition that took place every morning since forever was weird and strange, with bizarre and confusing feelings attached.

Hastily, she addressed Paul, "Where's Cain? He's supposed to pick me up in fifteen minutes, but since you're here…"

"You still aren't driving," Jared teased with a bit of surprise as a pained expression covered Paul's face. "Man, Quil, it's been six months, let the kid drive again."

"No!" Uncle Sam grumbled the same time Quil snarled the word at Jared. "Claire ran the car into a river on her first solo drive. She's not driving until she's twenty-five."

"Well if you don't give me a chance how will I learn to drive properly?" Claire questioned in a tone teenagers perfected solely for use on their parents.

Sam looked over her head at Quil, seeming to commute 'take over' telepathically.

"Claire-baby" – she shivered a little because lately that fond, familiar evoked new feelings in her – "you've been driving with someone next to you since your sixteenth birthday. You crashed my car when you were seventeen and driving alone for the first time. That does not speak well for your driving skills; you've had a lot of practice already."

"But the car is repaired now and I wasn't hurt!" Claire protested.

"For the last time, Claire, that's not the point!" Quil yelled, frustrated.

"Then what is it!" Claire yelled back.

"No shouting at breakfast!" Sam himself shouted.

Claire huffed at him and Quil both. "I don't like you!"

"Quit the sulking, young lady," Sam told her. "You're a grown woman."

She ignored them both to focus on Paul who still seemed in a private anguish. "So you were saying where Cain was?"

"Claire, I don't know when he's coming or what his plans are. I spent the night here."

Uncle Paul stopped phasing years ago so the only reason he spent nights here anymore was because… "Another fight?" Quil asked with sympathy.

"Yeah," Paul tossed down his fork in obvious frustration which was clearly directed at the situation with his eldest son. "The boy won't forgive me. I try my hardest, man, I do, but he just…"

"He's a teenager," Sam said with a sideways look at Claire, which she ignored as well. "They're dramatic and difficult. Just give him some time."

"I've given him three years! How much more time does he want?"

"Did I mention that teenagers are stubborn too?" Uncle Sam quipped.

"Keep that up and I'll tell Aunt Emily what you said about her apple crumble last week," Claire informed him mischievously. Her uncle scowled at her clearly thinking ungracious things but kept his mouth shut.

"I don't know what to do anymore!" Paul agonized. "I don't think he understands that I'm his father!"

No one had anything to say. Well, Claire did, but she didn't think she could ever tell Uncle Paul that her next best friend (Cain) thought that since Paul hadn't been a father to him in the first fourteen year of his life, he didn't need one now. He would never acknowledge the older man as his father and nothing would convince him to do so – least of all the reality that Cain Applegate was the spitting image of Paul Tama.

The result of a fling Paul had engaged in when he was sixteen, Cain was going to be seventeen today. He never even knew about Cain until three years ago when, upon her death, Dixie Applegate's lawyer had personally handed him a letter giving him custody of their son. There was even DNA proof of the biological connection, which, the Boston lawyer said, was obtained with the help of Salmon Grier, a woman from another area of La Push. Cain and his mother obviously had a hard life, something Cain would never forgive his father for because, while Dixie was struggling to raise her son in the slums of Boston, Paul was in La Push with his wife, more than comfortably raising their two children.

When Paul went to eagerly collect his son, the boy had disappeared, and he and Rachel had to relocate to Boston for two months until they found him and convinced him to come back home with them. Quil had shared with her the absolute astonishment in Paul's mind when he saw his son for the first time in a police station. The boy had a worn, cynical look that most people didn't acquire until twice Cain's age, with a hard, dark look in his eyes that they had not seen before. He looked like he was capable of murder, as young as he was. But the most astonishing thing was that he was six and a half feet tall, his body was heated, and though he was stick thin and had muscles that looked out of shape with his lanky form, but he was obviously strong. When they had arrived at La Push, Paul tried to guide his newfound, antagonistic son through a transformation, only to be sardonically told that said transformation had happened months ago.

So now Paul was the father of a seventeen year old shape shifting wolf whose only confidant was Claire, and also who had imprinted on Jared's youngest daughter practically the moment she was concieved. But Paul, no matter how frustrated and worn out he was, had to admit that Cain was a little more mellow and trusting after he imprinted. And Jared, who resented Cain in some small way, had to admit that Airini, his two-year-old baby girl, couldn't be more loved and protected.

"If he's not here in five minutes, you'll have to take me," she turned to Quil and said.

"Ahhh…"

"He's up for patrol in an hour." Sam said in a no-nonsense voice. "I'll drive you three to school today if Cain doesn't show up."

No! Claire wanted to say; somehow, when Uncle Sam drove them to school they were _always_ late. Claire hated to be late – she liked to start school at least ten minutes early. But she suffered in silence seeing as her driving privileges were non-existent and she needed someone to drive her to school.

"Cheer up," Quil bent and bumped her forehead with his. "I'll pick you up from school and we'll go shopping for Cain's birthday party this evening.

"You'll let me drive?" she gave him her best hopeful, pleading look. It usually got her anything she wanted.

Hastily, Quil straightened away from her, starting to fill his face with more food. "No."

"Stop harassing the man, Claire," Sam ordered before she could beg some more.

"I honestly don't get why you have to insist on driving," Embry watched her beg Quil with her eyes while he stared determinedly at his pile of food. "You've got your own personal driver plus the rest of us when he's not around. I don't get it."

"Is it too much to ask to be a little independent? That's all – I want some independence. Every time I want to do anything, I've got a pack of wolves breathing down my neck. I should really get a boyfriend for some originality."

The whole table stared at her, even Denali and Ilima, who were both wide eyed with disbelief. "What?" Claire squirmed, "I can get a boyfriend if I want!" That only had them sniggering at her; the three were close so they knew that she never had a boyfriend and probably never would as she had a habit of unconsciously freezing out any boy who had interest – or so Denali said.

Jared, in a pacifying manner, patted her hand, looking her in the eye, "Now Claire, just because you're upset doesn't mean you can go off and do stupid things. Think about this for a moment."

"Think about what? I never said I was _going_ to get a boyfriend. I just said I _should_ – preferably one who'd let me drive."

Quil grinned down at her, not at all upset by her small show of defiance. "Princess, no one in La Push would _ever_ let you drive. Every single person has heard about your er… skills… and no one wants to be er… let me put it this way – Old Mrs. Hyuna down the road often tells Sam 'I hope you still have the good sense to keep that Claire of yours away from cars, dear. She's a hazard.'"

"I'd go looking in Forks for that boyfriend then, just see if I don't," she muttered back just as Embry, Jared, Ilima and Denali cracked up over Quil's impersonation of Mrs. Hyuna.

Thankfully, Cain's car pulled up in the driveway at that moment, halting let's-tease-Claire time. A second after the engine shut off, Cain walked into the house, crossing the large living room to stand uncomfortably in the doorway. He was no longer stick thin and his muscles now sat comfortably on him – in fact, with his green eyes, light brown hair and smoothly rippling body, all the girls in La Push thought he was the sexiest guy in the county and his attitude was that of an irresistible bad-boy's. To Claire, he was just Cain with an attitude that needed a washing sometimes.

To prove the attitude part, he totally ignored everyone in the kitchen, especially his father, to address Jared and then walk out again with a confident swagger. "Jared, Kim said you could go home now. I've been over to see Airini and she should be calm for the rest of the day."

That was Cain at neutral. He was worse at his worst, and not much better at his best.

Paul was left looking as dejected and hopeless as he was feeling. As Denali and Ilima got up to go to the car, Claire patted Uncle Paul's hand and mustered up a bright smile for him. "Don't worry so much Uncle Paul; he was a lot worse when he just got here. And now he's imprinted, he's not going anywhere so I'm sure he'll get better with time. Besides, he's one of the best people I know – despite his prickly attitude."

"You do know he can hear you, right?" Embry had to comment.

"Don't worry; he and I have an open, honest relationship. Bye everyone, Uncle Sam." Then she got up, hitched her bag on her shoulder, kissed Quil on the cheek as was routine, and raced out the door before Cain left without her – she wouldn't put it past him to do so.

Outside, she slid into the passenger seat of the old, black Sedan, calling a cheerful hello to Kei, her friend's thirteen year old half brother.

"Happy Birthday!" she called to Cain while blowing him a kiss as he pulled out of the driveway. Not a single cheerful muscle was on his handsome face. Claire couldn't have that! Before Illima started in on her brother again, she hastily cheered, "Come one everyone let's sing the old, miserable, Scrooge the Birthday song!"

* * *

A/N: For clarity and future information here is a list of the families -

Sam and Emily Uley – Denali (15), Ilima (13)

Jared and Kim – Nayeli(15), Estela (15), Adra(13), Airini (2)

Paul and Rachel Tama – Cain (17), Kei (13), Vailea (8)

Jacob and Renesmee Black – Koda (10), Karik (9)

Collin and Sienna – Dale (12), Amari (5)

Brady and Farah – No Children


End file.
